Recently read that not only was Taranatha one of the closest disciples of the 9th Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje, but that he also wrote about the histories of several tantras. I know some of what he penned about the Tara tantras wound up in Martin Willson's In Praise of Tara: Songs to the Saviouress, but does anyone know where his history of the Yamantaka tantras can be found?

For that matter, does anyone know what lineage(s) of Yamantaka were held by Jetsun Taranatha, and which are in Jonang? He practiced Kamtsang, Shangpa, and Jonang, so I'm all ears.

"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, it happens that a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

Karma Jinpa wrote:Recently read that not only was Taranatha one of the closest disciples of the 9th Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje, but that he also wrote about the histories of several tantras. I know some of what he penned about the Tara tantras wound up in Martin Willson's In Praise of Tara: Songs to the Saviouress, but does anyone know where his history of the Yamantaka tantras can be found?

For that matter, does anyone know what lineage(s) of Yamantaka were held by Jetsun Taranatha, and which are in Jonang? He practiced Kamtsang, Shangpa, and Jonang, so I'm all ears.

As a Jonangpa, he probably practiced Varjabhairava on the Rwa Lotsawa tradition, generally avoided by Kagyus because Rwa Lotsawa claimed he had ritually murdered Marpa's son.

Taranatha was actually a Lam Dre/Sakyapa practitioner as well...in fact, the Jonang sprung to a great degree from the Sakyas, at least in terms of Tantric lineages. Also a holder of various Yamantaka lineages....his family lineage is actually directly from Ra Lotsawa Dorje Drak. In fact, he was the holder of a huge number of transmissions, chiefly from his main guru, Buddhaguptanatha, who came to Tibet from India.

"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."

May any merit generated by on-line discussionBe dedicated to the Ultimate Benefit of All Sentient Beings.

"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."

May any merit generated by on-line discussionBe dedicated to the Ultimate Benefit of All Sentient Beings.

conebeckham wrote:Something else tangential....it's said that the "spells" Milarepa used, prior to his "reformation," to rain down death and destuction on his village, related to Yamantaka, as well.

That's something I've never heard before, Cone. Was it maybe a practice related to one of the worldly, unenlightened protectors in his Mandala?

Find it hard to believe Manjushri would be ok with killing via black magic, but then again, the fear of karmic retribution from those actions is what led Milarepa onto the path; the catalyst for him to become the greatest yogi in Tibetan history...

If it *was* the yidam, that's a whole new level of skillful means!

"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, it happens that a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

As I know the story, Marpa's son was mocking Bhairava as a yidam because it has an animal's head. In truth Bhairava has the buffalo head as a trophy from conquering Yama... but anyway... Marpa's son is mouthing off about Bhairava-Yamantaka line this, and Ra, realizing this is creating negative associations for others, liberates him. Marpa's son is an adept so he transfers.consciousness to another body.

Marpa's son is an adept so he transfers.consciousness to another body.

This practice, which we still have the sadhana for, evidently caused a lot of problems. So it was decided to allow the practice to die out. No empowerment was given to the next generation, so the practice became inert, dead. You can get the text, and do the sadhana, but since there is no lineage empowerment available, you'd just be wasting your time. Nobody today can make it work anymore.

Something to think about when the lineage/empowerment deniers are posting.

My posts are for entertainment purposes only. Please don't take anything I say seriously unless you verify it with a real teacher first.

Marpa's son is an adept so he transfers.consciousness to another body.

This practice, which we still have the sadhana for, evidently caused a lot of problems. So it was decided to allow the practice to die out. No empowerment was given to the next generation, so the practice became inert, dead. You can get the text, and do the sadhana, but since there is no lineage empowerment available, you'd just be wasting your time. Nobody today can make it work anymore.

grong 'jug practices still exist in Nyingma with uninterrupted transmissions.

Marpa's son is an adept so he transfers.consciousness to another body.

This practice, which we still have the sadhana for, evidently caused a lot of problems. So it was decided to allow the practice to die out. No empowerment was given to the next generation, so the practice became inert, dead. You can get the text, and do the sadhana, but since there is no lineage empowerment available, you'd just be wasting your time. Nobody today can make it work anymore.

grong 'jug practices still exist in Nyingma with uninterrupted transmissions.

Well, that's certainly not mentioned in the Kagyu histories!

My posts are for entertainment purposes only. Please don't take anything I say seriously unless you verify it with a real teacher first.

When they were staying in Ngamong Chushul, Darma Dodé, who was the venerable Marpa’s son, came to the Dharma teachings. Ralo made him an excellent offering of five ounces of gold, five hundred loads of grain, and so on. Darma Dodé thought to himself, “If I could make this Ra Lotsawa become my pupil because all people high and low believe in him, my activity will definitely become vast.” He asked Ralo, “Ra Lotsawa, who do you consider your guru, and what kind of teachings do you know?”

Ralo said, “My teachers are Bharo and Meñjidvīpa. My teachings I know are called the oral lineage of Ra’s instructions.”

Darma Dodé said, “The real teachings are those of my father. His guru was mahapandita Nāropa. Your guru Bharo is a non-Buddhist yogin. Your yidam is in the form of an animal. Your guardian is the Mara Yama. That kind of Dharma is a cuase for rebirth in the lower realms. What you should do is enter my father’s Dharma. I have the profound Hevajra. I have the quintessential Mahāmāya. I have the ultimate essence, Cakrasamvara. I have the Guhyasamāja, which is as vast as space. I have Chatuhpita, which is the king of tantras.”

Ralo replied, “That is truly wonderful, but here is the reason why my teachings are superior to all those. Guhysamaja has the instructions on illusory body and luminosity, but does not have the essential rpoofound teaching of chandali’s blazing and dripping. The mother tantra’s Chakrasamvara does not have the enhancement of the vast methods of the father tantra. Hevajra does not the the precious six Dharmas or the necessary four Dharmas. Mahāmaya does not have the obstacle-eliminating yantra. Catuhpita does not have the three adoptions onto the path. All of them do not have the practice of the peaceful and wrathful deities. They do not have the activity practices of the faces, insignias, and so on. As this teaching of mine has them all, it is superior. Moreover, the tantra states:

The wrathful deities drop their weaponsWhen they see glorious Vajrabhairava.

And therefore teaches that Vajrabhairava’s power overwhelms all other wrathful deities. There is an activity practice for each of his faces and insignias, which is not to be found in any other tantra. The guardian of this teaching is the ruler over the lives of all beings in the three realms, who knows what is good and bad, can distinguish between truth and lies, therefore what greater guardian could one need?”

This answer displeased Darma Dodé, who said,” It’s not right for you to say that your Nepalese non-Buddhist Dharma is superior to the Dharma that my father translated after receiving it from an Indian Pandita. I am a Hevajra siddha. I am completely confident in relation to you, so we will compete to see who is more powerful, and I will wipe out every single Dharma teaching you have translated.”

Darma Dodé then then went on retreat for a month practicing the sorcery that is taught in the Hevajra root tantra. When he directed the power of the sorcery, Lama Ralo and his pupils were traveling down a track that led into a valley, and one of the attendants fell off his horse and was killed. Then a tempest arose and Ralo became concerned, and thought that it would not be right not to answer this kind of harm, but the omens are that his passing into the next world is a long time away.

Then Ralo went up to Enmar again, and while he was staying there, one night he had a vision in a state of luminosity, and saw that the Dharma teachings he had translated would cease to exist if he did not kill Darma Dodé. He summoned the protector and his retinue who appeared in his presence. He told them, “Go and take Darma Dodé’s life." Instantly they transformed into a dust storm that went off in the direction of Lhodrak. In a little while the protector brought a human heart that he had put into his skull bowl and cut open with his curved knife, and said, “He is a good being who is a holder of the teachings, but his arrognce would be harmful to your lineage, and so I have brought you his life. Now perform the wrathful fire-offering.” Then the protector disappeared.

When Ralo performed the fire-offering, there were many marvels, such as the flames taking on the shapes of various weapons, and the smoke had the aroma of burning human flesh.

The next day, Darma Dode was thrown by his horse and killed, his consciousness being ejected into the heart of Mañjuśrī.

Next Ra Lotsawa excuses his killing with a teaching on Mahamudra (!)

Marpa Sönam Rinchen, who was a relative of Lord Marpa came to see Ralo and said, “What greater bad karma is there than this slaying you have accomplished?”Ralo replied, “You don’t understand a key meaning of the profound mantrayana. All of this becomes an aid to me.” And then Ralo sang him this song:

The primordial, naturally present natureThis unfabricated, self-arising wisdom,Has no shape or color that can be identified.It is beyond thought or words, good or bad.

All beings, who are deludedNot realizing that everything is like that,Cause knowledge to be obscuredAnd experience all kinds of appearance, happiness and suffering.

They do not know that these appearances are their own delusionsAnd believe in the reality of the habitual tendency of perceiving good and bad.As everything appears to be solidly real, they are attached to this life,And believe in the duality of self and others, friends and enemies.

In order to overcome that, the Buddha taughtEighty four thousand DharmasBut beings, under the power of ignorance,Won’t listen to methods that will help them.

They malign the swift path of profound instructionsAnd declare them to be heretical.Which will cause them to wander in the lower existencesAnd to forever go round in the cycle of birth and death.Continuously experiencing unendurable suffering.

There is no other method that can free them,So I, with overwhelming compassion,Summon ignorant, deluded beingsInto the triangular pit of the essence of phenomena.

With the sharp weapon of wisdom and knowledgeI chop up their cherished aggregate of physical formSo that they know the illusory nature of composite phenomenaAnd purify them of believing in the solidity of appearances.

With the weapon of limitless compassion,I slay the duality of you and meSo that attachment and aversion, subject and object, naturally vanishAnd the five poisons are transformed into the five wisdoms.

With the self-arising weapon of knowledgeI slay ignorance, the obscuration of knowledge,And their own, unfabricated, true face appears to them,And they are purified of fixation on illusory appearance, on happiness and suffering.

In order that those slain enemies and obstructersAre liberated from the chains of belief in realityTheir ultimate true nature manifests to themAnd they reach the invincible level of the Dharmakaya.From that state, in order to benefit otherThey arise with the major and secondary signs and benefit beings.

I draw in the life and merit ofThe forms of ignorance and illusory appearancesI extend the life and increase the merit of yoginsMerely as the illusory relative truth

The body of tendencies and karmic resultsIs blessed as wisdom amritaAnd fed to the mouths of the mandala deitiesWhich destroys the the peg that fastens down samsara and its materiality.

This is a good result for me, good for others, good for both.It is the swift path of profound skilful methods.

This escorts to the level of buddhahoodAll the beings who continually perform bad actsAnd who will not listen to the Dharma.This is my, Ralo’s, special Dharma.

Without doing long life practices or methods to avoid death,Without gathering ransoming lives, or gathering the accumulationsLife and merit is increased through slaying by sorceryThat is my, Ralo’s, special Dharma.

The five poisons are primordially pure.Without needing to make efforts in meditation that stops them,Whatever arises are cultivated and liberatedThat is my, Ralo’s, special Dharma.

Meditation on the unfabricated natural meaningIts own power manifesting as deities without hindrance,Emptiness not preventing appearances,That is my, Ralo’s, special Dharma.

Through meditation on appearances and emptiness as deitiesOne knows that their essence has no existence, is empty.Appearances does not prevent emptiness.That is my, Ralo’s, special Dharma.

Marpa Sönam Rinchen, developed faith in Ralo on hearing this, and asked Ralo to forgive him for having had a mistaken view. He became a follower of Ralo’s, received his empowerment and instructions and became a siddha. Subsequently, he benefited many beings and departed to the celestial realms.

This is of course Ra Lotsawa's pov. Darma Dode would have had a different explanation of events.

Equanimity is the ground. Love is the moisture. Compassion is the seed. Bodhicitta is the result.

"All memories and thoughts are the union of emptiness and knowing, the Mind.Without attachment, self-liberating, like a snake in a knot.Through the qualities of meditating in that way,Mental obscurations are purified and the dharmakaya is attained."

Marpa's son is an adept so he transfers.consciousness to another body.

This practice, which we still have the sadhana for, evidently caused a lot of problems. So it was decided to allow the practice to die out. No empowerment was given to the next generation, so the practice became inert, dead. You can get the text, and do the sadhana, but since there is no lineage empowerment available, you'd just be wasting your time. Nobody today can make it work anymore.

grong 'jug practices still exist in Nyingma with uninterrupted transmissions.

smcj wrote:This has got to be in the top 10 list for quickest and furthest off-topic a thread has gone.

An interesting and intensely fascinating detour, nonetheless.

Does anyone know if there's an English translation of Taranatha's History of the Yamantaka Tantras? If so, is there an electronic version?

"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, it happens that a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

One can easily see why Dharma masters outside of tantric traditions disparage the Tantra and its followers.His Holiness,the Dalai Lama has made comments about the misuse of 'lower activities'[buddhist against buddhist]in Tibet to be one of the karmic reasons for the recent and terrible history there.

johninman wrote:One can easily see why Dharma masters outside of tantric traditions disparage the Tantra and its followers.His Holiness,the Dalai Lama has made comments about the misuse of 'lower activities'[buddhist against buddhist]in Tibet to be one of the karmic reasons for the recent and terrible history there.

I wonder what the other karmic reasons were?

The whole purpose of Buddhism is to have fun, isn't it? - Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche

johninman wrote:One can easily see why Dharma masters outside of tantric traditions disparage the Tantra and its followers.His Holiness,the Dalai Lama has made comments about the misuse of 'lower activities'[buddhist against buddhist]in Tibet to be one of the karmic reasons for the recent and terrible history there.

Can you give an example of such polemic by a Dharma master outside a tantric tradition?